Roller packer for concrete tile



March 12, 1940. H, L D E 2,193,286

ROLLER PACKER FOR CONCRETE TILE Filed Nov. 21. 1938 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 I N VEN TOR.

ATTORNEYS March 12, 1940. LA DUE 2,193,286

ROLLER PACKER FOR CONCRETE TILE Filed Nov. 21, 1-938 2 Sheets-Shget 2 IN VENTOR.

ATTORNEYS Patented Mar.l2,1940 a l f UNITED STTES PATENT OFFICE 2,193,286 ROLLER PACKER FORCONCRETE TILE,

Jay H. La ,Due, SiouX City, Iowa.

Application November 21, 1938, Serial No. 241,624 a Claims. (01. 25-36) The object of my invention is-to provide a set forth, pointed out in my claims, and illusroller packer head as a substitute for or improvetrated in the accompanying drawings, in which: ment on thewtroweling type packer head hereto- Figure 1 is a front elevation of a roller packer fore used. This application is a continuation in ead e body ng y invention, illustrating part of my application Serial No. 640,497, filed sociated machinery,.parts being shown in section :7.

August 23, .1937, on'a Roller packer for concrete and many parts being omitted.

tile. Figure 2'is a side elevation of one of the idler 'It is my object toprovide a roller packerhead sprockets at the upper end of the machine, the which will shaft therefor being shown in section. 1. Pack a thicker. Wall than can be packed by Figure 3 is a horizontal, sectional view taken U the troweling type packer head; on the line 33 of Figure 1, illustrating particu- 2. Consequently extend the range of sizes of larly the top of theroller packer head.

pipe or tile which can be made by the packer Figure 4 is a vertical, sectional View taken on head process; i p the line 4- of Figure 3; and

: 3. Permit using more coarse aggregate and Figure 5 is a detail, plan view of the spider 15 consequently less cement; mounting forming a part of the roller packer 4. Maintain the same quality on a thick walled head.

pipe that the packer headof the troweling type I have shown my apparatus without illustrating 1 can produce in a thin walled pipe. the main frame of the machine.

5. Pack the concretethrough two lines or cages It will, of course, be understood that a proper 20 of, steel reinforcing more adequately than can frame is provided for supporting the parts here now be done with known packer heads or than shown. can be done at present with a troweling type The numeral ill indicates a turn-table suppacker head where no steel isused; i ported by mechanismnot illustrated. and adapted 6.,Permit the .use of one elliptically shaped to support the mold or form H. The turn-table 25 steel reinforcing cage of the kind permitted unhas one or more openings l2 through it to permit der present A. S. T. M. specifications in sizes of the passage of the roller type packer head. 36 inches and up and will adequately pack The turn-table may be of a standard constructhrough such a cage. tion having two or more openings l2 and being so It is my particular purpose to provide a roller mounted that it may be rotated so that while one 30 type packer head which will eifect the relative tile or pipe is being packed, another may be respeed and economy inmaking sizes of eighteen moved and a new form or mold put in place on inches diameter tile or :pipe and larger, that have the table.

been heretofore possible with the troweling type I shall first describe the mechanism for raising ofrpacker head on the smaller sizes, it adequately and lowering and rotating the packer head and 85 makes. will then describe the details of the roller type Still a 'further object is to provide a simple packer head, which is primarily the subject of my mechanism which will have less wear than that invention. to which previous troweling packer heads have Theroller packer head is indicated generally at 4 been subjected, and will impose less twisting or A. A centering pallet I3 is secured to the turn- 40 torque load on the reinforcing cages which must table Ill in any suitable way. The centering pal-- be used in larger sewer pipe and tile, for instance let it has a central opening of smaller diameter on sewer pipe larger than :twenty-four inches than that of the hole I2. Each centering pallet and culvert pipe larger than twelve inches, as re- I3 is provided at its inner edge and on its upper quir d WA. 3. T- M- pe ifi t ns. side with a replaceable wear ring 14. 45 7 is y Object also 110 v m fi a $01161 yp Suitably mounted by means not here shown is packer head, which can be used in conjunction a hopper 5 The hopper 5 has central openwith other mechanisms, to pack the barrel of ing 15 through which material i Supplied to hell and spigot and tongue and groove sewer pipe, the interior of the mold. Secured to the under as Well as drainage tile or pipe, as here shown. side of the bottom of the hopper l5 in any suit- 50 With these and other objects in View, my inable way is a ring pallet 16 having a central openventioneonsists in the construction, arrangement ing, the diameter of which is less than that of and combination of the various parts of my roller the mold l i. The ring pallet 16 has on its under packer for concretetile, whereby the. objects consurface adjacent its inner edge of a replaceable I templated are attained, as hereinaftermore fully wear ring l1.

At the top of the mold II on the outside thereof is a reinforcing ring 18.

The hopper l5 may be raised and lowered by mechanism not shown. When in use, it is lowered until the palletring l6 rests against the top of the mold H and against the reinforcing ring it.

The hopper may be locked in place by means not here shown and not pertinent to the present invention.

The roller packer head is mounted on the lower end of a vertical shaft IS. The shaft is provided with a splines l9a. It is slidably and rotatably extended through a fixed gear casing 20 in which it is journaled.

Fixed to the shaft |9 above the gear casing 29 is a raising yoke 2|. The shaft I9 is screwed to or otherwise secured to an extension shaft 22 at its upper end. The upper portion of the shaft 22 is slidably guided in the member 23.

Secured to the yoke 2| on opposite sides of the shaft I!) are chains 24 which extend over sprockets 25 (Figures 1 and 2) and thence downwardly and'are secured to discs 26 fixed on the shaft 21. On the shaft'21 is a spur gear pinion 28 which meshes witha rack 29. The rack 29 is connected with a stem 39 of the plunger/not shown, of an ordinary hydraulic ram 3|. The ram is operated from an oil pump 32. From the outlet of the pump 32, a pipe 33 extends to a valve or control box 34 having ordinary valves of known construction operated by a lever 35. From the control box 34, pipes 36 and 31 lead to the upper and lower ends of thehydraulic ram 3|. A by-pass pipe 38 is provided to permit on to flow from the control box 34 back to the pump 32. When the pump 32 is operating, then by proper manipulation of the handle 35, the hydraulic ram 3| may be operated for actuating the rack 29 for raising and lowering the shaft I9.

Itwill be understood that the roller packer head is raised to position where it will be out of the way when the mold H is being turned to pipe-making position on the turn-table Ill and then is lowered to the position shown in Figure 1 for starting the packing of a tile or pipe.

Concrete is supplied to the hopper I5 and thus to the interior of the mold and drops down to the bottom of the mold for providing material for the tile.

I shall next describe the mechanism for imparting rotation to the roller packer head.

In the gear casing 20, a beveled gear 39 is nonrotatably mounted on the shaft H] to permit vertical sliding movement of the shaft. The beveled gear 39 meshes with a beveled gear 40 on a shaft 4|. The shaft 4| extends to and is operatively associated with an ordinary change-speed gearing device 42. The change-speed gearing device is actuated by a shaft 43 on which is a V-belt sheave 44, driven by any suitable source of power.

It will, of course, be understood that the shaft 43 may be operated in any way and from any source of power available.

Roller packer head I shall now describe in greater detail the roller packer head A. This head includes a peculiarly shaped casting or spider mounting B indicated generally in Figure 5. The spider B has a hub 45 through which the reduced lower end 46 of the shaft l9 extends. On the lower part of this reduced end 46 is a nut 41.

Extending radially from the lower part of the hub 45 are arms 48 preferably arranged at about a angle with relation to each other having at their outer ends the short bearing centers 49 formed with the holes 50 which are horizontally elongated radially with relation to the hub 45. The bearings 49 support the packing rollers 5|. Each packing roller is journaled on a spindle 52 which has a bushing 53. Each spindle 52 has a reduced lower end indicated at 54 projecting through a hole 59 of a bearing 49. A washer 55 rests on the upper end of each spindle 52 and is held in place by a screw bolt 56 extending through it and extending through the spindle 52.

On the lower end of the reduced end 54 of each spindle 52 is a washer 5! locked in place by means of a nut 58 on the lower threaded end of the spindle 52.

The spindles 52 may be adjusted radially by loosening the nuts 58 and adjusting set screws 59. This adjustment serves for accurately positioning the rollers 5| at the time of their original installation and for wear.

The spider B may be made to support a variety of numbers of packing rollers. As here illustrated, the spider is provided with four such rollers.

Extending in opposite directions from each bearing 49 are web arms 60 at right anges to the arm 48 of the particular bearing 49. These web arms 59 support plates 6|, the outer faces 6|a of which are curved as shown in Figure 5 on the arc of a circle, having its center at the vertical center of the spider. These plates 6| stand between and below the rollers 5| and their vertical edges 6|b nearest adjacent the rollers are curved to conform to the curved faces of the rollers 5|.

' A troweling skirt 62 is bolted to the plates 6| as by bolts 63 (Figure 4) and has the external diameter of the bore of the pipe to be formed.

The rollers 5| are set so that they are flush with the perimeter of the troweling skirt. This is done by the set screws 59.

Above the spider B is a hollow sheet metal cone 64. The cone 64 is of considerably less external diameter than the troweling skirt 62. Extending downwardly from the cone 64 are apron legs 65 to which are secured circumferentially adjustable plate members 66 by means of bolts 61 and nuts 68. The bolts 61 are extended through horizontally elongated slots 69 in the plates 66. The apron legs 55 and adjustable plate members 66 are intended to close the successive spaces between the rollers 5| around the packer head to prevent concrete or the like which drops down over the cone 64 from getting into the interior of the packing head.

The members 66 are made adjustable to take care of any variations in the distances between the successive rollers 5|. Such variations might arise because of the use of the rollers of different sizes or because of wear or because of the radial adjustment of these rollers on the spider B.

The apron legs 65 and the plate members 66 are inset from the perimeter of the troweling apron 62 as shown for example at the left-hand side of Figure 4 in order to allow for material recesses into which the material may drop to be operated on by the rollers and packed into the tile being made. The lower edges of the apron legs 65 are preferably bolted to the plates 6| as indicated at 10.

In order to afford additional control of the amount of material passing down over the cone 64 into the material recesses outside the apron legs 65, I have provided on top of the cone 64 the adjustably mounted material control blades H which have the elongated slots 12 shown in Figure 3 andare fastened in place by means of bolts 13 screwed into the cone. By loosening the bolts 13, t he blades 1! may be adjusted to project more or less beyond the cone as may be desired.

Distribution of the loose material falling on the roller packer head is necessary so thata surplus can always be kept above the orifice to the-recesses. To accomplish this, I provide distributing shoes Hi fastened on top of the cone 64. As in--' (heated in Figures 3 and 4, these show shoes in the form of members with upright blades which serve to distributethe material;which is always maintained on top of the cone 64.

@A canvas tube '15 is kept around the packer shaft 19" to keep concrete from getting on the shaft and into the interior of the roller packer head. His fastened at the top to:a revolving Operation I shall now describein greater detail the operation of my improved roller packer head. The mold II is placed on the turn-table it and the turn-table is rotated to proper position. Then the hopper l5 lowers to proper position above the form, with the packer head which continues to can be varied by manipulation of the control wheel 78 on the oil pump 32.

It will be understood that the rollers 51 have been adjusted to the desired positions and that the material control blades. ll have been adjusted.

As the packer head rotates and slowly moves upward, the rollers 51 thoroughly pack the material for the formation of the pipe under construction. All the material must pass downwardly over the upper part of the packer head and into the material recesses outside the apron legs 65 between the successive rollers 5|. This material is rolled and packed. N

All of the material passing into these recesses must be packed into the pipe or tile. This is true because the rollers. roll over this loose material and push it out because thereis a portion of each roller which extends radially outwardly farther than any other part of the packer head w excepting the troweling skirt.

The effectiveness of the packingaction depends upon the amount of material the rollersv pass over and pack. If the loose material in the ma-.

terial recesses traveled around with the complete unit, it would not pack but would simply remain in the recesses. The fact is, however, the recesses are continually being emptied and refilled. Be-

cause the loose material tends to drag against the pipe wall and because the direction of the packing unit is anticlockwise and the rotation of the rollers isclockwise, the loose material remains substantially stationary so that the rollers pass over and pack it into the pipe wall section.

The degree of packing forcecan be controlled by the amount of surplus loose material allowed to enter the recesses and by the speed of revolutions of the packer head and by the speed at which the head rises. The amount of. material supplied to the recesses is regulated by the position of the blades H. The speed of rotation of the roller packer headmay be controlled by shifting gears in the change-speed mechanism M. The speed of the rise or lift of the roller packer head can beregulated by means of the wheel 13 on the pump 32.

When the tile or pipe has. been packed and the roller packer head hasbeen raised'to its proper position, the hopper may be raised and the turntable than rotated to remove the finished tile from the zone of operation of the packer head and to bring a new form to position for another cycle of operations. No other reference is here made to the possible use of additional mechanism for making pipe or tile with ar-bell end or other special endsor joints.

As heretofore indicated, a roller packer head of the type under consideration has numerous ad-- vantages. i i It is common knowledge thatheretofore the rotary packer head of the troweling type provided the most efiicient and economical means for making concrete pipe in'sizes under twenty-four inches diameter. The use of the roller type packer head instead of the troweling type packer head makes it possible to pack' a. thicker wall and consequently to. extend the use of the rotary packer head method to the manufacture of larger sizes of pipe or tile. v i 7 Experience has demonstrated that the roller type packer head will actually successfully roll and pack the larger sizes of tile. 7

It is a fact demonstrated by experience that the roller packer head can be made'to put more pressure on the material beingpacked than can be or head. This being true, it follows that the greater pressure causes more coarse aggregate to be eiTectively coated by the cement and it therefore follows that with theroller packer head it is possible touse relatively more coarse aggregate and relatively less cement than would be possible with the troweling type packer head.

I have found by experience also that in making the larger sizes of the pipe with the roller packer head, it is possible to actually maintain the same high quality of product, which heretofore was secured by the use of the trowelingltype packer 35 successfully applied with the troweling type packhead on the smaller size pipe, but was heretofore impossible to maintain with the troweling type packer head in making thelarger sizes of pipe.

I have found that with the rolling type packer head it is possible to pack the concrete more effectively through two lines or cages of steel reinforcing than can at present be donewith any other type of packer head.

Becausethe rollers rotate and do not drag, it

is possible with the roller packer headto properly pack and finish the tile with substantially less power expenditure than that required for the troweling type of packer head.

Mv experience indicates for example that where a troweling type packer head is used for making the larger sizes of pipe, for example twenty-four inches in diameter and larger, it is necessary to use a packer shaft so large that the same mechanism can not be used for making small diameter (four to six inch) pipe.

I claim as my invention:

1. In a roller packer head, a spider mounting rotatably supported, a plurality of packing rollers thereon, a cover above the rollers, of less diameter than the pipe to be packed, apron legs below the edge of the cover, substantially closing the spaces between the successive rollers.

2. In a roller packer head, a spider mounting rotatably supported, a plurality of rollers there on, a cone cover above the rollers, of less diameter than the pipeto be packed, apron legsbelow the edge of the cover between the successive rollers, the apron legs having adjustable parts for fitting them tothe rollers.

3. In a roller packer head, a spider mounting rotatably supported, a plurality of rollers radially adjustable thereon, a cover above the rollers, of less diameter than the pipe to be packed, apron legs below the edge of the cover, substantially filling the spaces between the successive rollers.

4. In a roller packer head, a supporting memher, a troweling skirt therebelow, a plurality of rollers rotatably mounted on the supporting member, a cover arranged above the rollers and apron-like elements arranged to substantially fill the spaces between the successive rollers and spaced inwardly from the path taken by the outer parts of the rollers when the packer head is 1'0- tated.

5. In a roller type packer head, a spider having an annulartroweling skirt at its lower part, a series of rollers mounted on the spider above the troweling skirt, a shaft connected with the spider and extending upwardly, a cover plate for the spider, apron legs between the successive rollers spaced inwardly from the outer face of the troweling skirt, scraper plates for the rollers on said apron legs.

6. In a roller type packer head, a spider having an annular troweling skirt at its lower part, a

series of rollers mounted on the spider above the troweling skirt, a shaft connected with the spider, and extending upwardly, a cover plate for the spider, apron legs between the successive rollers spaced inwardly from the outer face of the troweling skirt, scraper plates for the rollers on said apron legs, plates for regulating flow of material mounted on said device at the upper part thereof for radial adjustment, substantially upright distributor plates arranged at the top of said packer near the outer part thereof.

'7. In a roller type packer head, a spider having an annular troweling skirt at its lower part, a series of rollers mounted on the spider above the troweling skirt, a shaft connected with the spider and extending upwardly, a cover plate for the, spider, apron legs between the successive rollers spaced inwardly from the outer face of the troweling skirt, material flow control plates mounted on the top of said packer for radial adjustment.

8. In a roller type packer head, a spider, a series of rollers carried by the frame and projecting beyond the spider laterally, with their axes in a circle, and scraper plates arranged between the outer parts of the successive rollers.

JAY H. LA DUE. 

